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Residents press council for clarity on 9 Mile Road phase 3 and traffic study results
Summary
Several residents raised longstanding concerns about the 9 Mile Road project, questioning a traffic study presented in December and asking the city for a decision on lane configurations and funding. Councilmembers said phase work is staged and engineers have been requested to present three-lane plans for review.
Residents at the Eastpointe City Council meeting on July 15 pressed the council for clearer information about phase 3 of the 9 Mile Road project and the traffic study presented in December.
Jennifer Nicholas, an Eastpointe resident, said the December traffic study included results she considered “problematic,” citing what she said were flawed data and conclusions, including an apparent projection that a road-diet configuration would lead to more fatalities and injuries decades in the future. She asked whether the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) or SEMCOG had raised concerns and urged the council to decide how it will use the funding assigned to the project.
Council member DeMonaco responded in the council reports that the project’s phase 2 work is underway and phase 1 is complete; the council has voted to ask the city’s civil engineer to prepare three-lane plans for the council to review before making a final decision on lane configuration. “We voted for phase 3. The phase, of course, not yet started,” DeMonaco said. He said staff and engineers will bring the three-lane plan back to the council for detailed review.
Resident comments also referenced local traffic changes, including lane reductions during construction and diverted traffic onto neighborhood streets. One resident said increased traffic on Stevens and Topher would be troubling because those streets provide access to parks and schools.
No formal council decision to change lane configurations was made at the meeting; council members said they were awaiting engineer plans and additional information before taking further action.
